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Posts categorized "Web/Tech"

April 01, 2016

Every day we're reminded of the wonderful things that social media can do for the animal welfare movement. Sharing photos can help reunite lost cats and dogs with their families, can facilitate the transport of orphaned puppies with little prospect of adoption to the safe haven of a no-kill shelter, and can inspire donations to deliver lifesaving medical care to pets in dire need.

However, April Fool's Day is an appropriate time for a reminder not to trust everything that comes across your news feed. Internet trolls feed on anger and outrage, and sometimes stoking the passions of animal lovers is a fire they start just to watch the world burn. One particular such troll took on the persona of an elderly Richmond woman and created a Facebook account as "Kat Tenna." Public posts from this profile were deliberately inflammatory on a variety of topics, but the ones that began to spread with a viral fever used real photos from news reports of animal cruelty and made blatant, outrageous statements of deliberate acts of cruelty.

Feeding the voracious appetite of the troll, people from all over the country began to flood animal welfare groups, law enforcement agencies and news stations in Richmond with these reports yesterday evening. The Richmond SPCA's Facebook page was bombarded with hundreds of messages, and we responded to each one to explain the hoax and how to report the fake profile to Facebook for removal, which we were notified just before midnight that Facebook had acted upon.

The messages, emails, calls to dispatchers and more all came from a good place. Genuine animal lovers, appalled by what they were seeing reached out from as far away as New Zealand to urge authorities to save a dog they believed was in danger. They were acting on what we've all learned: "If you see something, say something." And if you witness neglect or cruelty first hand, that is absolutely the right way to be programmed, to document and report mistreatment immediately. However, on the internet, a dose of skepticism is warranted and can prevent resources that can be devoted to a real animal or person in danger from being diverted in response to a hoax.

How do you weed out the hoaxes, the cat-fishing and outright scams without ignoring an animal who is potentially in real danger?

Google's reverse image search is an amazing tool. This was the first step in ruling out that the "Kat Tenna" claims were false. Both of the photos she claimed to be of her own dogs could be found online in posts one to five years old that were connected to real news reports.

You can find many other methods, but Google makes it incredibly simple. At images.google.com, upload the photo or provide a link to the image you want to search. The results will show you matches online. We're opting not to show the images shared by Kat Tenna here, but they were connected to a 2015 case in Oklahoma and a 2011 case in the Philippines.

Perhaps someone else has already done the research. Just as you would hopefully search snopes.com if something about a "news" story shared by a distant relative doesn't smell right, there are websites and pages dedicated to debunking hoaxes involving animals. One of those is Animal Abuse Known Hoaxes on Facebook (warning: this page does include screen shots of graphic and disturbing images). If you have other favorites that are reliable, share them in the comments.

No results? It could be a valid threat.Do your best to determine the location of the person and find the appropriate law enforcement agency to investigate animal cruelty in that locality. It can be as easy as plugging the search terms "report animal cruelty, Anytown, USA" into your favorite search engine. In most cases, that is not going to be a private organization such as ours, and social media is not the best avenue for serious or urgent communications such as this.

We are truly grateful to live in a community with so many animal lovers willing to speak up when they suspect an animal has been mistreated. Thanks to all of you for your sincere concern and passion to make the world we live in a better one for animals.

Tabitha Treloar is the director of communications for the Richmond SPCA. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires both your first and last name to be used as your screen name.

May 15, 2014

On Wednesday evening, May 14, the Richmond SPCA’s remarkable and creative harnessing of the power of social media for the benefit of homeless animals was recognized in a very big way! We won the Innovation in Community Award at the annual awards gala of the Richmond Technology Council, which are called the RichTech Awards. There were many nominations for this award and four other finalists for it, most of whom were substantially larger entities than we are. This wonderful recognition was the result of the terrific work of Tabitha Hanes, our director of advancement, and Caroline Radom, our manager of communications. Tab and Caroline have used all that the various forms of social media has to offer to convey the crucial messages of our organization to our community. They have used it to motivate help and support for us community wide as well as to explain our philosophies and educate our community about how to better care for and save the lives of animals.

Social media has become an increasingly important tool for sharing information not only about pets available for adoption but also about important animal welfare issues that have regional or national impact, and the engagement of members of our community, dedicated volunteers and donors. It allows us to motivate citizens to help us in moments of challenge (like the loss of power for several days) and to speak up on behalf of protecting animals’ lives for all manner of political issues. With the help of technology and social media, the Richmond SPCA continues to grow and expand its lifesaving reach throughout Richmond community and beyond. In addition to helping us reach potential adopters and get the help and support of our community for issues of importance to animals, technology has provided us with an avenue to easily keep lines of communication open with those who have adopted from our humane center. Whether it be through a Facebook message, a submission on Tumblr or a tagged photo on Instagram, we love receiving updates about how pets are adjusting in their new homes, photos of pets with their new families and seeing firsthand the overwhelming joy experienced through saving a life.

This award confirmed the belief that I have long held that the Richmond SPCA uses the immense power of social media more effectively and creatively than does any other non-profit in this community. Many others to a large extent leave the immense power of this tool, which is essentially for free, on the table and continue to use old ways of communicating to much more limited effect. Tabitha and Caroline have distinguished us as a sophisticated leader in communicating effectively through the various tools of social media and, in so doing, have inspired huge amounts of support in this community to help us to save animal lives. There were several other awards also given at the Rich Tech gala but none of them were for using technology to actually save lives. What an accomplishment that is and we all owe congratulations and thanks to Tabitha and Caroline for that amazing achievement. We are so proud of them and deeply grateful.

Robin Robertson Starr is the chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA. To read her biography or that of our other bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires both your first and last name to be used as your screen name.

July 30, 2010

Slactivism – I first heard the word last week at the Social Media Club of Richmond. It elicited a chuckle from the crowd, who may have been more familiar with the term. While it’s meant as a pejorative, there are plenty of ways that you can help homeless animals with just a few clicks of your mouse. Sure it’s a feel-good move that doesn’t take much effort, but spreading the word about the lifesaving programs and services we provide as well as events that benefit the animals in our care have real impact. [Disclaimer: sometimes after the click we ask you to follow through with real-world action, but it’s usually relatively painless and often even fun.]

Click the Facebook like button on this post. You’re already reading it and even stuck around past the first paragraph, so maybe you really do like it. Using the Facebook “like” button is a way of sharing our blog with your friends.

If you’re not already a fan, go to the Richmond SPCA page on Facebook and like it too. We try not to fill your newsfeed with too many updates, unless of course it’s about adorable puppies and kittens and other wonderful animals who are so deserving of a good home. You can also be a fan of our gift shop for special offers and promotions.

Now that you see our updates, when you like one, share it with your friends too. Facebook knows there’s a bit of a slacker in each of us, so they’ve made it easy. Each photo or video or link we post has a “share” link just below it. You can post it to your own news feed and even add comments to let everyone know why you support animal welfare.

Visit our events tab on Facebook to see upcoming events that benefit the pets in our care. If you see one that interests you, let us know you’ll attend then select more guests to invite. Facebook only allows page administrators to send event invites to the people we’re personally connected to, not to everyone who likes our page, so we rely on you to spread the word about our events.

Make a post of your own! Have you adopted your best friend from our Robins-Starr Humane Center? Had a pet spayed at our Smoky’s Spay/Neuter Clinic? Found your pet’s new favorite toy at our Lora Robins Gift Shop? Let others know! You can even post a photo or video to our wall on Facebook to give us an update. We love to hear how much joy our alumni bring their families, and maybe it will inspire someone else to give a home to an orphaned pet.

Tabitha Hanes is the community relations manager at the Richmond SPCA. To read her complete biography, or that of our other bloggers, please click here. Before submitting a comment, please review our guidelines.

April 19, 2010

As you’ve no doubt heard or experienced first hand, Facebook has become a major part of how we communicate with each other and share information about our interests and activities.

The popular social media site currently has more than 400 million active users, 50% of which log on to the site every day. Our own Facebook Fan Page has grown tremendously over the past year, in terms of the number of “fans,” posts and other activity on the page.

I’m writing about this well-covered topic today because something interesting has been happening lately on our Richmond SPCA Facebook Causes page. The page, which has been a component of our social media “portfolio” for more than a year, has seen a dramatic increase in activity and donations recently. This leads us to ask the question. Do Facebook Causes pages represent the next generation of activism and philanthropy?

Facebook Causes provide nonprofits with a way to harness the penchant for activism displayed by many Facebook users. Cause members can recruit friends to the cause, create their own cause page, post media to share, sign petitions, create Birthday Wish and other fundraising campaigns and more, all to support their favorite charitable missions. This important work is all done independent of an organization's official website, traditionally the place where most online fundraising and activism takes place.

Many nonprofits report that fundraising and outreach through Facebook Causes is still tiny when compared to their overall goals. Having said that, the potential for growth of Facebook Causes pages, because of their ease of use, affordability and ability to tap in to the Facebook powerhouse of users, appears to be limitless. That’s a very good thing for your favorite charities!